Not So Lucky
by elitejace452
Summary: Brett didn't just get threatened after witnessing a murder. She's in the fight for her life. Alternate ending for 4x18.
1. Not Dying Today

A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first Chicago Fire story. I have been re-watching Chicago Fire and this was just something that stuck out to me. It's an alternate ending to 4x18. That's the episode that Brett could have gotten really hurt. Let me know what you think!

* * *

"No, no, no, no!" The man screamed as he threw his hands up in an attempt to defend himself. The silver barrel of the gun was the last thing he saw as several shots rang out and the light left his eyes instantly. Brett threw herself backwards on the ground, trying to scoot away from the man she had been trying to treat as she gasped in horror. Her eyes grew wide as the gun turned to her and she threw her hands up to show she meant no harm.

"I'm a paramedic. I just treat people." She pleaded as the gun leveled with her body. She prayed that Jimmy would return in time to see the man and tackle him to the ground. She knew that every call she took could result in something going wrong but she never imagined that it would be looking down the wrong end of a gun.

"No witnesses." His voice was gruff as his face twisted into a sick smile and he pulled the trigger not once, but twice. Brett screamed in agony as an excruciating fire burst inside of the chest and abdomen as all of the oxygen was forced out of her body. The force of the bullets threw her flat on her back on the ground as she struggled for air, trying desperately to get something, anything back into her lungs. Her hands dug at the gravel as she tried to get a handle on the pain that was overwhelming her entire body. She heard running footsteps in the gravel and silence a second later. She whimpered as she pressed her hands to her stomach to try to stop the bleeding. She could feel the hot liquid oozing over her fingers and down her sides and pooling underneath her.

"Oh my God, Brett!" Jimmy came back around the corner after calling for further assistance and stopped in his tracks as he looked in on the scene with horror. He sprinted to Brett's side and fell to his knees beside her. She flinched at the sound of the gravel moving but relaxed as much as she was able when she realized it was only Jimmy. "Oh my God!" He repeated as he snatched handfuls of gauze from the nearby bag. Brett let out a horrific scream when he pressed down on her stomach as more pain exploded.

"Stop!" Brett cried out as brought her arms up, weakly putting her hands on Jimmy's forearms, trying to stop him from pressing down on her wounds. In her pain fueled state, all she knew was that his hands were making the pain worse and she wanted him to stop. "Stop!" Tears started pouring from her eyes as she weakly pushed against his hands that were glued to her stomach. She didn't think that it was possible for there to be more pain but with the pressure of Jimmy's hands, her vision went white. There were two bullet wounds on her chest and abdomen, only a few inches apart. "Please." She gurgled as she coughed and blood came erupting from her mouth, splattering over her face. The pain felt like someone was ripping her insides out while punching broken glass into the wound.

"I know. I've got you." Jimmy tried to soothe her as he tried to control the panic he felt. He lunged for the nearby oxygen tank and got the mask over Brett's face. Brett gulped down the oxygen, grateful for the extra help. "My partner got shot!" He screamed into the radio. He barely even heard the panicked reply asking for his location as he stared at Brett. After the question was repeated frantically, he answered irritated, "Yes, it's my location!" Every question took away one of his hands from holding the lifesaving blood inside of Brett.

"Hurts." Brett said in a breath as her eyes started to flutter shut. There was a pain free blackness that was beckoning her as the pain started to shut her body down. She wasn't sure if she could keep her eyes open. She coughed again, crying out with the pain, as blood trickled down her face. More tears fell as the pain seared through her someone was holding a white hot poker to every nerve in her body.

"No. You stay awake." Jimmy's voice came out almost in a yell. He was terrified that if she shut her eyes, they might not open again. "Stay awake!" He screamed, startling Brett's eyes back open. She was breathing in shallow pants as her hands fell away from fighting Jimmy. She didn't have the energy to fight anymore. All of her remaining energy was focusing into keeping her eyes from closing and trying to breathe when it felt like her lungs had concrete blocks on top of them. Jimmy realized in horror that the knees of his pants were soaked through with her blood. The pool of blood was spreading out beneath her quickly. Brett's whole body started to shake as she went into full shock.

"I, I have loved working w-" Brett gasped out each word as more blood gushed over her lips, cutting off the rest of her sentence. She tried to open her mouth again to talk but nothing but the gurgle in the back of her throat came out. Jimmy shook his head hard as tears started to fall. He knew that Brett thought she was dying. She was trying to tell him that she had loved working with him because she thought she was dying and he didn't want to hear it. She was going to be okay. There was just so much blood.

"No, you're not dying today." Jimmy looked around frantically, hoping against hope that the other ambulance, a police car, anyone would show up. "You're going to be just fine. No." He added forcefully when Brett let her eyes close. The color was draining out of her normally pale face quickly and her breaths were growing shallower with each passing minute. Brett whimpered as she tried to force her eyelids apart but it was like they were stuck together. She was shaking harder and harder as she wheezed, trying to force the air into lungs that were failing her. "Open your eyes!" Jimmy cried out as he shook Brett's shoulder, leaving a bloody hand print. His ears perked up as the distant sound of sirens broke through. "Help's almost here!" He shook her shoulder again as her eyes opened to tiny slits but they were glazed over and unfocused as the blood continued to drip from the side of her mouth. The blood continued to flow around Jimmy's fingers as he pressed down harder, determined to keep his blood inside of her. She let out a whimper at the increased pressure as her eyes rolled back. Her body was shutting down.

"What happened?" The paramedic, Jack, jumped out of the rig before his partner had even come to a full stop and sprinted to Jimmy's side. "What can we do?" Brett had worked at his house for a few months and he knew that she was one of the kindest and best paramedics that existed.

"She, she got shot!" Tears were now falling down Jimmy's as full panic set in. He stared at her face as he heard the sounds of a bag being unzipped and then electrodes being attached to her chest as Jack and his partner, Charisma, got to work stabilizing Brett.

"She's lost so much blood." Jimmy whispered as he maintained pressure on the wound as he watched them insert an IV and get a blood pressure. Her blood pressure was in the toilet and according to the monitor, she was getting barely any oxygen. He knew that it meant her lung had collapsed and God knows what else damage. More tears fell as he realized that her eyes had fallen closed. He pressed just a tiny bit harder on her stomach, trying to force a groan or a whimper or anything but there was no response. "No. No!" Jimmy was horrified as Jack nudged him out of the way so he could keep working. They finished cutting her jacket off and replaced the blood soaked gauze with fresh gauze that turned dark red instantly.

"I'm intubating." Charisma was already grabbing the equipment she would need and didn't wait for anyone to say anything. She had the tube placed smoothly within a few seconds and was bagging Brett. "Let's get her to Med." Jack and Charisma transferred Brett on a backboard and lifted her up on the gurney as Charisma kept pumping oxygen. It was like his heart was imploding as he took in the scene in front of him. Blood was everywhere and Brett was whiter than the sheet was on. Jimmy ran alongside of the gurney, holding her hand when they got her into the ambulance. They raced towards Med.

"You're going to be okay." Jimmy kept talking to Brett. He had no idea if she could hear him or not but he had to hope that she could. Brett was strong and she was a fighter. She was going to get to the hospital and they were going to fix her.

"She's crashing! Start compressions!" Charisma barked at Jimmy as the line on the monitor started alerting. Jimmy felt like he was just looking through to someone else's nightmare as he started pushing on Brett's chest, forcing her heart to do the work that it wasn't doing on its own anymore. They screeched to a stop at the emergency entrance at Med and Will Halstead, April, and several other nurses were there to greet the ambulance and reached to help grab onto the stretcher. "She went down maybe two minutes ago. She was shot two times in the chest and abdomen. Last BP was 60 over 40. She's lost a lot of blood." They all rushed into the room that Maggie directed them into.

"We'll do everything we can." Dr. Halstead told Jimmy as he was pushed out of the room. Jimmy kept walking back until he hit the desk and slid down to the floor as he started to cry. There was a trail of Brett's blood that led to the door that Brett was behind. He looked down at his hands and they were completely saturated in her blood. He was completely numb as he stared at the door, trying to believe that she was going to be okay.


	2. Bloodstained Hands

A/N: I'm sorry for the long break! I had some writer's block when it came to this story and was in a pretty bad car wreck but wanted to here it is!

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By the time that Truck 81 and Squad 3 had burst into the emergency room, Jimmy was curled up in the fetal position on the floor, his expression blank as he stared at the door that Brett had disappeared behind. Both squad and truck crowded around Jimmy, their expressions full of fear and terror. Third shift had been called in on an emergency recall so that second shift could head towards the hospital because there is no way anyone would be able to focus with Brett's condition unknown. The moment that third shift had arrived, second shift had sprinted out of the doors and sped off, not even bothering to change.

"Hey Jimmy." Gabby hurried over to Jimmy. She kept her voice gentle and quiet as she knelt down next to Jimmy, laying a hand on his shoulder. He lurched back, his eyes flying wide at the sudden touch. "Woah, you're okay. It's just Gabby." She felt the nausea rising in her throat as she took in his profile. His hands, the sleeves and front of his shirt, and his pants were completely soaked in blood, Brett's blood.

"What happened?" Casey asked as he looked towards the door that Jimmy was collapsed outside of. He craned his neck but there was no way to see what was happening inside of the room. A nurse came out of the room but she very quickly closed the door behind her. "Hey, what's going on?" Casey stepped in front of her, hoping so that he could get some answers.

"Please sir, I don't have time to talk. We're doing everything we can." The nurse held up her hands defensively as she stepped around Casey and ran for a nearby storage unit. Every second that she took to get what she needed was a second that she wasn't helping her patient. She rushed back with an armful of supplies and was gone, back inside the room that Sylvie Brett was in. Everyone tried to peek around the open door but the curtain was drawn so that they couldn't see anything. They could hear a few words that slipped out and terrified them before the door clicked shut.

"She got shot." A tear slid out from Jimmy's eye as he managed to wiggle his way into a seated position as he looked down at his bloodstained hands. It still felt a warped nightmare that he was going to wake up from. He glanced down at his hands and whimpered. They were sticky with Sylvie's blood. The blood that he had tried his absolute hardest to keep inside of Brett but still it covered almost his entire front.

"How? Who shot her?" Severide spoke up. His heart was still beating in his throat. They couldn't lose anyone else. They just couldn't. Brett had come in with her bubbly, silly personality and helped lift them back up as a house. She was an amazing paramedic and was very nurturing and sweet. "How did this happen?"

"I don't know. I don't know." Jimmy whispered. He still could see the scene as he had rounded the corner. Their patient was dead and Brett was writhing on the ground in pain, blood oozing around her hands as she gasped for air. There had been no one else in sight. Just the patient they had been called out for lying next to Brett with the glazed, half-open eyes, there was no doubt that he was beyond saving.

"You didn't see anyone?" Severide prompted. He was ready to go hunt down whoever this was and show them exactly why you didn't mess with anyone at Firehouse 51. Jimmy just shook his head as another tear rolled down his cheek. Gabby gathered Jimmy into her arms and held him as he continued to shake. Everyone huddled close around him, laying hands on Jimmy or the person in front of them so they were all connected. No one had to speak up to remind everyone else that the last time they'd been here, gathered close outside of a trauma bay, Shay hadn't made it. It felt like an eternity has passed before Will Halstead stepped out of the room with a grim look on his face.

"Hey." Everyone leapt to their feet the second that they saw Will. "Sylvie was in really bad shape by the time she got to us. She lost almost thirty-five percent of her blood volume and was in cardiac arrest when she arrived. Her lung had collapsed but fortunately, the second bullet missed all other vital organs." Will paused to let all of that information set in. He could see in their faces how much they cared about Sylvie. He cared for Sylvie. She was an amazing paramedic with a passion for her job. "Her heart stopped twice on us. It is still very touch and go." Will ran his hand through his hair as he watched shoulders and heads dropped with the bad news. He wanted to tell them that it was all going to be okay but it was far from that. There was no guarantee that she would pull through and she was facing a tough recovery. "She's not strong enough to withstand surgery to fix her lung right now so we've put in a chest tube and are giving her blood transfusions. She needs all the good thoughts and prayers you guys can give her. We'll be moving her to the ICU in a few moments. You will be able to see her once she's settled."

"Thank you doc." Gabby managed to get the words out past the huge lump in her throat as Will tried to give them a smile. It turned out more like a pained grimace as he walked back into the room where Sylvie was to finish prepping her to transfer up to the ICU.

"She's strong. She'll pull through." Casey spoke up next as he tried to rally everyone. There were a few mumbled agreements as they tried to remain positive. Brett was extremely determined and she was a fighter. Everyone nodded as they waited for Brett to come out of the room. They would follow her up to the ICU.

"Oh my God." Jimmy felt his knees buckle and he thought he was going to hit the floor when the gurney with Brett emerged from behind the curtain. She looked like death. Her face was beyond pale and looked almost translucent. They had cleaned up her face so at least the trails of blood from her mouth were gone. In addition to the tube down her throat, there were wires poking out from all sides of her gown and her leg was exposed, so he could see they'd been forced to drill into her leg to establish an IV line. There were two different units of blood hanging above her head and Jimmy could see blood draining from the tube that was in her side.

"She's a fighter." Herrmann stepped forward and slung a supportive arm around Jimmy's waist as he half supported Jimmy's weight. Cruz threw his hands up against his head as he looked at Sylvie. Even though their relationship hadn't worked out, they had remained extremely close friends and he cared about her. They all watched Sylvie until the elevator doors shut and rushed up the stairs to meet her in the ICU.

* * *

"Any changes?" Stella whispered as she stepped into the ICU room. She fought back the tears as she looked at her friend lying on the bed in front of her. She looked so fragile. They were cycling out two at a time to not crowd the small room. Herrmann was a step behind her. He nodded that he also wanted to hear if there was any news.

"Nothing. Her blood pressure is still in the toilet." Gabby whispered back. She and Casey stood up so that Stella and Herrmann could have their chairs. Stella sighed heavily. "Antonio's here." Gabby looked down at her phone when it buzzed. She left the room with Casey on her heels and walked down the hall to where he was waiting with everyone else.

"Hey." Antonio enveloped her in a huge hug, knowing that his little sister was hurting badly. She let out a sob as she buried her face in his chest and clung to him. She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself.

"Thank you so much for coming." Gabby thanked her brother after she pulled herself together. Antonio rubbed her back supportively.

"You don't ever have to thank me. An attack on a paramedic is an attack on us." Antonio said with passion in his voice. Paramedics were a part of the Chicago Fire Department, which made them part of the family. They were first responders and put their lives on the line every day.

"Jimmy's the one you need to talk to." Gabby pointed over to the corner. They'd finally been able to get Jimmy to leave Brett's side so he could clean off the blood and make sure he was up to talking to Antonio. Even if he hadn't seen anything, any tiny, miniscule detail from the scene before could help the police solve the crime.

"Hey Jimmy." Antonio took the seat next to Jimmy as he pulled out his notebook to be prepared to write down anything Jimmy had to say. "How ya doing?"

"I'm, I just can't believe this is really happening." Jimmy shrugged his shoulders as he looked down at his clasped hands. Even though the blood was gone from his hands and forearms, he swore he could still see it.

"I know buddy." Antonio knew that seeing someone you cared about bleeding out after being shot was extremely hard to see. "I do want you to know this. We IDed the other GSW victim. He's a member of a crew out of Detroit. They came here to pull a job, it went south somehow, and now one of them is on a warpath. Three of them are dead already." Everyone was extremely quiet as they listened to the details.

"So, why did he shoot Brett?" Severide spoke up from where he was sitting between Capp and Cruz. He still was desperately waiting for some answers along with everyone else.

"We're assuming to make sure there were no witnesses." Antonio responded. "We're looking at camera footage and trying to get an image to run facial recognition off of. We will catch this guy. There won't be a place he can hide from us. Jimmy, is there anything you can tell me about the scene when you drove up?"

"Yea, um, the man was on the ground and he had a gunshot to his leg. He wanted us to just patch him up and seemed nervous. Brett told me to call it in. I had to run back to the ambulance to get the stretcher and update our situation. We were around the corner from the address we were dispatched to. I, I just, I left her alone." Jimmy let his head flop into his hands and let out a quiet sob. If he had just come back five seconds quicker or if he had just not left her alone, she'd be fine.

"You do not blame yourself for this. If you were there, he would have likely shot you too and you would both be dead." Antonio forced Jimmy to look him in the eyes so he would know that Antonio spoke the truth. Jimmy gave him a tiny nod.

"I'm going to get back to the office. We're going to catch this son of a bitch." Antonio assured everyone in the waiting room. Roman and Burgess came around the corner. "Roman and Burgess will be stationed here with you guys." Everyone called out their greetings as Roman headed down towards where Sylvie was. Antonio said a quick goodbye and left. Everyone sighed and tried to get as settled as they could. The only thing to do was wait and hope that she pulled through.


End file.
